Lokayukta indicts Mayawati's No. 2

The Lokayukta's move to recommend CBI probe into the finances of Mayawati's trusted lieutenant Nasimuddin Siddiqui sent ripples in UP's political circles.

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LUCKNOW: A day before the fifth round of elections in Uttar Pradesh, which will cover parts of Bundelkhand and the Yadav belt, the Lokayukta found Mayawati's trusted aide Nasimuddin Siddiqui guilty of corruption and money laundering and recommended a CBI and ED probe into his finances.

Wednesday's order comes as a blow to the BSP, turning the focus sharply back on corruption during Mayawati's tenure which she was trying to counter by harping on poor law and order under Mulayam's watch.

Although Siddiqui, who is from Banda in Bundelkhand, is not in the fray, he is a key campaigner and the party's Muslim face. As minister, he held more than 20 departments, including the "lucrative" PWD, health, housing, irrigation, agriculture and mining. Siddiqui is the eighth minister of Mayawati's cabinet to be indicted for corruption by Lokayukta Justice NK Mehrotra.

The chief minister, who is now up against strong anti-incumbency, needs to not only keep her dalit vote base intact but also carve out a slice of voters in other segments to gain in this four-cornered election that has been marked by high turnouts.

In his 929-page report to CM Mayawati, the Lokayukta said that inquiries against Siddiqui should be handed over to the CBI and the ED within a month in view of the grave charges against him. The three-volume report has 40 supporting documents to prove the charges against Siddiqui.

It said the minister had set up a dummy society — Qumruddin and Farzand Ali Education Society — to siphon off money. His wife, Husna, who holds the post of secretary in the society, had furnished false information on a fund of around Rs 3.63 crore collected though donations in four years from 2006 to 2010.

The excess donations shown by the society were false and this appeared to be a case of money laundering, the Lokayukta said.

There were issues over the society's land purchase as well. It had shown that more than 57 bighas of land were purchased for Rs 46.32 lakh in Nindora village in Barabanki district. The land cost shown was much lower than the prevalent maket price of Rs 20 lakh a bigha. Going by this, the cost of land should have been well over Rs 16.40 crore, the report said. Siddiqui had also purchased huge tracts of land in Tindwari in Banda district and its cost was shown as Rs 4.5 lakh when the market price was Rs 1 crore. A property in Lucknow's upmarket cantonment area — a house on a 16,500 sq m plot of land —costs anything over Rs 1 crore, but it was valued at Rs 50 lakh.

In another case, Siddiqui had set up AQ Frozen Food Pvt Ltd in Bachraun village of Jyotiba Phule Nagar. While Siddiqui had submitted that only about two hectares of land had been purchased for the enterprise, reports from district magistrate said that the actual land was above four hectares.

Times View

There is a strong case for a relook at whether the model code of conduct that is in operation during an election should be made wider in its scope. Governments are prohibited from making various policy announcements or inaugurating projects and schemes since these could unfairly influence the voters. Similar restrictions are placed on political parties. Should there not be restrictions on other bodies like the CBI or the Lokayukta too? We are not suggesting that there should be any compromize with the fight against corruption. However, the timing of specific decisions by anti-corruption agencies can have a bearing on the elections, even if unintended. If we are willing to put up with a temporary freeze on development work by the government, should we not be ready to accept a short break in anti-corruption proceedings in order to ensure a genuinely free and fair poll?